30 Days meme - Day 3 - Your Favorite TV Show
Like others, in order to narrow things down, I'm not including anime. Of course, this almost narrows things down too much, because ... favorite TV show? I used to follow a ton of shows when I was younger (everything from X-Files, Roswell, and Firefly to Boy Meets World, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Seventh Heaven, wow) but I haven't watched them recently, and now I just watch whatever's on rather than following particular shows -- and "whatever's on" ranges from reruns of What Not to Wear and Criminal Minds (both of which I enjoy) to crap like 16 and Pregnant and Tough Love (both of which are entertaining if ridiculous). So instead of trying to choose between the programs I watch now and the programs I enjoyed when I was a kid, I'm going to focus on a program that I've always loved ... that I never actually watched on TV.
Day 3 - Your Favorite TV Show
"Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall. Welcome to Faerie Tale Theatre."
Shelley Duvall's (yes, the lady from The Shining) Faerie Tale Theatre ran for 26 episodes on Showtime from 1982-1987. Each episode retold a popular fairy tale, from "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty" to "The Three Little Pigs" and "Jack and the Beanstalk" (you can find the whole list here on wiki). The scripts and special effects range from very clever to very cheesy (80s SFX, oh yeah!), but there's a certain charm to all of them. (Also, some adult humor that went right over my head as a kid.) Anyway, one of the cool things about Faerie Tale Theatre is the number of famous people involved. For example ...
That's right, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones as a barely recognizable Chinese emperor with a funny mustache.
My favorite episodes include Sleeping Beauty (starring Bernadette Peters and Christopher Reeve), The Princess and the Pea (starring Liza Minelli) and The Dancing Princesses. A few of the other famous names involved in various episodes: Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Susan Sarandon, Billy Crystal, Helen Mirren, and James Earl Jones (in an episode directed by Tim Burton).
But of course, these names meant nothing to me when I first began watching FTT as a child. I was entranced by the magic of the stories. My library had many of the episodes on video, and they saw a whole lot of play in my VCR. It's hard to say if they sparked my love of fairy tales or it was simply that I loved FTT because I already loved fairy tales -- perhaps that love was in me since birth, ha ha. Unfortunately, a lot of the episodes eventually phased out of the system thanks to damaged tapes (I claim no responsibility in this!). By the time I decided to revisit the series as a teen, there were few left, so I had to order what I could from other libraries. Fortunately, around this time a boxset of all 26 episodes came out on DVD. I bought it, naturally -- it's the only live-action American TV show I own. And thanks to my big brother (who's always looking out for me as far as garage sale purchases go lol), I also own 9 of the episodes on laser disc. (This is significant because even though I've yet to watch the LDs, they have pretty cover art -- which unfortunately I've been able to find little of online.) So, even though only three of its episodes aired on TV (on a station we didn't get) in my lifetime, I've pretty much had a lifelong love of Faerie Tale Theatre.
(And yes, I will happily subject any of you to a few episodes if you so desire.)
Still to go:
Day 04 - Your favorite book
Day 05 - Your favorite quote
Day 06 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 - A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 - A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 - A photo you took
Day 10 - A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 - A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 - A fictional book
Day 14 - A non-fictional book
Day 15 - A fanfic
Day 16 - A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 - A talent of yours
Day 20 - A hobby of yours
Day 21 - A recipe
Day 22 - A website
Day 23 - A YouTube video
Day 24 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 - Your day, in great detail
Day 26 - Your week, in great detail
Day 27 - This month, in great detail
Day 28 - This year, in great detail
Day 29 - Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - Whatever tickles your fancy
I feel like tomorrow's going to get a really long entry because I love so many books ...
Day 3 - Your Favorite TV Show
"Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall. Welcome to Faerie Tale Theatre."
Shelley Duvall's (yes, the lady from The Shining) Faerie Tale Theatre ran for 26 episodes on Showtime from 1982-1987. Each episode retold a popular fairy tale, from "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty" to "The Three Little Pigs" and "Jack and the Beanstalk" (you can find the whole list here on wiki). The scripts and special effects range from very clever to very cheesy (80s SFX, oh yeah!), but there's a certain charm to all of them. (Also, some adult humor that went right over my head as a kid.) Anyway, one of the cool things about Faerie Tale Theatre is the number of famous people involved. For example ...
That's right, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones as a barely recognizable Chinese emperor with a funny mustache.
My favorite episodes include Sleeping Beauty (starring Bernadette Peters and Christopher Reeve), The Princess and the Pea (starring Liza Minelli) and The Dancing Princesses. A few of the other famous names involved in various episodes: Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Susan Sarandon, Billy Crystal, Helen Mirren, and James Earl Jones (in an episode directed by Tim Burton).
But of course, these names meant nothing to me when I first began watching FTT as a child. I was entranced by the magic of the stories. My library had many of the episodes on video, and they saw a whole lot of play in my VCR. It's hard to say if they sparked my love of fairy tales or it was simply that I loved FTT because I already loved fairy tales -- perhaps that love was in me since birth, ha ha. Unfortunately, a lot of the episodes eventually phased out of the system thanks to damaged tapes (I claim no responsibility in this!). By the time I decided to revisit the series as a teen, there were few left, so I had to order what I could from other libraries. Fortunately, around this time a boxset of all 26 episodes came out on DVD. I bought it, naturally -- it's the only live-action American TV show I own. And thanks to my big brother (who's always looking out for me as far as garage sale purchases go lol), I also own 9 of the episodes on laser disc. (This is significant because even though I've yet to watch the LDs, they have pretty cover art -- which unfortunately I've been able to find little of online.) So, even though only three of its episodes aired on TV (on a station we didn't get) in my lifetime, I've pretty much had a lifelong love of Faerie Tale Theatre.
(And yes, I will happily subject any of you to a few episodes if you so desire.)
Still to go:
Day 04 - Your favorite book
Day 05 - Your favorite quote
Day 06 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 - A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 - A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 - A photo you took
Day 10 - A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 - A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 - A fictional book
Day 14 - A non-fictional book
Day 15 - A fanfic
Day 16 - A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 - A talent of yours
Day 20 - A hobby of yours
Day 21 - A recipe
Day 22 - A website
Day 23 - A YouTube video
Day 24 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 - Your day, in great detail
Day 26 - Your week, in great detail
Day 27 - This month, in great detail
Day 28 - This year, in great detail
Day 29 - Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - Whatever tickles your fancy
I feel like tomorrow's going to get a really long entry because I love so many books ...